Thomas Balamont DeFortiere
Early Life McClendon was born to the swamps of Crestfall, in which he encountered a few naga in his later years after the Third War, who he used as target-practice time again. He joined the Navy at age thirteen, and was believed at sixteen after his fleet was destroyed to be dead, resulting in being officially removed from the Kul Tiran military. Minor Mercenary Work After being informed that the paperwork had already gone through, Balamont opted to work as one of the Military's mercenaries, which involved hunting down lost orcs, deserters, and spies along the coast, swamps, and the seas around the Kingdom. On a bounty in Lordaeron, the Scarlet Crusade hired him to hunt down its own deserters, which he took up without second thought. Once handing in the contract, he did consider joining them, but decided they were too overly zealous to the point of losing strategy, and their paladin's code of honor would cause too much tension. Before riding back to his boat, he told a priest to give Westwind his regards. He was surprisingly good at his work, and after a few years he was known well enough to Alliance officials. He received a letter to assist in detaining, or slaying, deserters, spies, and, of course, the Horde from the Hinterlands to the Cape. For each brought back, or proved dead, he was given a respectable sum of gold. For McClendon, there was a bonus to this, as he took items from targets that had put up enough challenge. Either their weapons or their heads ended up adorning his ship, and most were lost later on. Baradin's Wardens At twenty four, Balamont was hired by the Baradin's Wardens to patrol the outlying sea. He had collected enough gold from bounties and assassinations of "Important" Orcish officials to afford a small boat, and was given an even smaller crew of twelve. After six months of sailing and destroying Horde refugee ships and patrols, Balamont ventured too far outside of Baradin territory, and encountered two Horde patrol ships. Reluctantly, he layed down his weapons, and was ready to accept surrender. Surrender didn't come, and instead a hail of bullets struck his ship and killed most of his crew, the remaining wounded jumped off and became shark food. Balamont ran into the bottom reaches with his pistol, leaving his dagger behind, and readying himself for death. Once the water was up to his knees, five large cannon shots could be heard outside, his men had already damaged one of the ships and another vessel, which he assumed to be a Baradin's Warden's, struck it down successfully. This caused fear and anger in the crew of the Horde's ship, which had come under immediate attack as well, and was forced to give room for the supposed Warden ship to reach McClendon's. To his surprise it turned out to be Gilnean, not having time to make a comment about walls, Balamont simply pointed toward where the last Horde ship. The Gilnean captain sailed toward it, and ended up driving it near the base-camp, where a large Kul Tiran warship opened fire on what remained of the Horde patrol ship. Balamont later learned the names of the foreign crew, chiefly Berenal, and was given a permanent position in the Blades as navigator of their Naval Forces, as he was assumed dead for a second time by the Kul Tiran military. House Lockewood & Greyfield Balamont, upon the Lord Greyblade's refocusing on the Headlands, was given the option to abandon his post as navigator. Accepting, as little action had come from his former job, he was placed as a retainer for House Greyfield. He had two jobs; Spy for Berenal, which he was used to, and protect the woman he'd declared the new House's head. Upon the Lady of Greyfield's death, Balamont was told to wait for Lord Greyblade to issue a new ruler of House Greyfield. This served as a small vacation period, which he took advantage of for bounties, until Lilurah Lockewood was chosen to command the Greyfield's former assets. His job remained the same, and was considered in action after Lady Lockewood's capture. Philosophy Balamont considers any race in the Horde to be an enemy, including "Neutral" members of said race, and has only not attacked them directly because of the risk being too high. However, he's responsible for a few trolls and orcs going "Missing" during their argent patrols. Likewise, he considers neutrality to be a blight on the world, and any who doesn't support eradication of the Horde are its sympathizers, and therefor are just as much an enemy. The only neutral organization he holds any respect for is Ravenholdt. His loyalties are only to himself, his country, and Lord Grayblade. This could be considered to be expanded to his employers, as he took contracts extremely seriously, but any loyalty to them went away after being paid. He proved this by, after handing in his contract on a Alteraci noble's son, stabbing his employer in the throat for an Alliance official's bounty on said noble. McClendon has no sense of honor, and the only race whose children who he would refuse to kill, unless an immediate threat to Kul Tiras' well-being or payed well enough, are the Blood Elves. Only because their loyalties may be brought back to the Alliance, and the children could be used against the Horde. On Lordaeron & the Forsaken. What his family knew was what Balamont's father told them after the war. That being; Lordaeron's large, pale, full of forests, extremely religious, and that the Grand Admiral respects Terenas deeply. Assuming that Daelin was right in all things, Balamont saw Lordaeron as a nation to put nearly as much loyalty to as Kul Tiras its self. After joining the Military, he saw the strategic advantage of a close alliance with the Bastion of Humanity; Kul Tiras was much smaller, and couldn't afford a defensive war. Lordaeron, on the other hand, was extremely large and, with enough support, would prevent a war the size of the second coming to Kul Tiras. He remained respectful to Lordaeron after its fall, but his own financial needs were too troubling to assist in the defense of his ally's homeland. Upon learning of Sylvanas' betrayal of Garithos and his men, who he respected deeply, Balamont's hatred for the orcs was passed only by his hatred of the Forsaken. This was only fueled by the plaguing of Southshore, and the stories of the Sludge Fields. Appearance Since most of his assassinations have been done through poisons or other markless methods, such as leaping from a bush, he only has a few scars and burns. One starts at the bottom of his right ear, going down to his chin and curving up slightly. Another is a large gash along his chest, which had to be stitched and is still extremely apparent. His burns are mostly on the top of his hands, and around his chest and legs. Other than his burns, he is rather unremarkable; tan skin, long, brown hair. His face could be considered handsome, but reclusiveness has caused only a few to get a good enough look. Category:Characters Category:Tirasian Category:Blades of Greymane Category:Human Category:Rogues Category:Gilnean Navy Category:Gilneas Peerage Category:House of McClendon